Eien Densetsu, Ai no Power
by ChristianGateFan
Summary: Eternal Legend, Power of Love. High School is over, and things seem peaceful and happy, but not for long. A suprise visitor comes, and a new enemy brings disaster. The present and future collide as Serena hurtles toward her destiny as Neo Queen Serenity


Well, I said I was going to do another Sailor Moon story, so here I am. maybe it took over a year, but I'm baaaack! I've had this story in my head for quite a while, and I'm excited to get it out. Excuse the weird title (in Japanese, no less--strange me) but I've been watching a lot of Sera Myu (the Sailor Moon musicals) lately, LOL. And it works, anyway. But anyway, this is gonna be kind of a long, epic-ish story, I hope, and I hope you like it. Please do review and let me know wat ya think:) I can't wait to hear from you. Thanks!

**Eien Densetsu, Ai no Power**

(_Eternal Legend, Power of Love_)

Serena Tsukino hopped down the concrete steps to the pavement in front of Juban High School in Tokyo, happier than she'd ever been.

"It's over! High school is over!" she whooped in delight. She didn't care that the crowds nearby --everyone that had attended the graduations ceremonies, which had just concluded--could hear her. They didn't matter. Now that school was over and this summer and the rest of their future stretched ahead of them, her friends were all that mattered. And speaking of her friends…

Raye, whose own graduation at her school had been the day before, had attended to watch. "Keep it down, you dope," she ordered. Lita and Amy giggled.

Serena ducked away, pouting. "Oh come on, Raye! We've got plenty to be happy about!"

"Not the least of which is that we haven't had an enemy since Galaxia and Chaos," Lita agreed.

Amy nodded, "Two and a half years. That's certainly a record!"

Mina had not yet said a word. She was standing in the back of the group, arms crossed and still a bit grumpy. Serena was the first to notice. She bounced forward and took her friend's hands, swinging her around.

"Come on, Mina, be happy! What's wrong?"

Mina smiled briefly, but when Serena let go of her she just shook her head and scowled. "I don't get it! How could _you_ graduate with a higher average than me? It's not fair!" Then she smiled again. "You're supposed to be the meatball head with that meatball hair."

Serena giggled. "I guess it's because _you_ didn't have a genius boyfriend to coach you in the academics."

Mina started to frown again, but then sighed. "Yeah….Gosh, I wish I _did_ have a boyfriend as cool as Darien." Her eyes glazed over, and the rest of the girls knew that she was now in la-la land.

Lita sighed. "Mina, you're way too boy crazy. You've got to stop chasing them. Wait for the right guy to come to you. Face it; Serena would never have had a boyfriend at all if it hadn't been fate."

"Hey!" Serena yelped.

Mina snapped out of it and raised an eyebrow at Lita. "As if _you_ didn't chase boys before Andrew finally asked you out last year."

Lita turned pink, but before she could protest, a male voice called out from down the sidewalk.

"Hey girls; congratulations!"

Serena's head whipped around like beacon, and her eyes lit up. "Darien!" she shouted happily. She ran to him as he approached through a break in the crowd and threw her arms around him.

Darien laughed. "Hey, Serena. I'm glad to see you too." He kissed her on the cheek. "I'm so proud of you!"

She blushed and let go of him. "It's all thanks to you, Darien! If it weren't for you I never would have had a chance at graduating with a C, much less a solid B! Sure, a low one, but hey, it's better than the Fs I was getting my first year in high school," she grinned.

"You're welcome."

She beamed up at him as she hugged his arm tight and led him back toward the girls.

"Hello, Darien," Amy said. The other girls chimed in their hellos as well.

Darien greeted them all, and then grinned at Amy. "And I suppose you graduated with a perfect record, didn't you?"

The shy genius flushed. "Well, not to brag, of course, but, if you must know, well…yes…"

"Aww, don't be shy about it, Amy," Raye laughed, thumping her on the back. Amy almost dropped the books she was carrying.

"That's great," Darien said. He pulled his arm from Serena's grasp and replaced it around her shoulders. "Now if you girls don't mind, I'm going to steal Serena from you for a little while."

"Go right ahead," Mina said immediately, winking in Serena's direction. Serena didn't know exactly what that was about, but the looks on the faces of her and the other girls almost seemed to say that they knew something she didn't.

Darien smiled in thanks, and Serena glanced back at her friends in curiosity as he led her away after she'd said goodbye.

"Don't forget to meet us at Crown later!" Lita called, waving.

She waved back, and then turned to her boyfriend. "So, where are we going, Darien?" she asked innocently.

He shrugged. "Oh, I thought we'd go to the park. You just graduated, and I figure you could use some peace and quiet before the rest of the celebrations," he said knowingly.

"You would know. You've graduated from high school before," Serena teased.

"Exactly," he smiled. "So how does that sound to you?"

"Just perfect," she sighed. "I need a relaxing walk right now, and with you is even better."

Darien looked at her lovingly for a moment, before suddenly turning away. Did his cheeks just turn pink? That was when Serena realized that he seemed a little preoccupied with something--he_ had _been rather brief with the girls--and now his other hand, the one she wasn't hanging on, was in his pocket. It looked like he was fingering something she couldn't see.

"Darien, is anything wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"Huh?" he looked at her quickly. "Oh, no, nothing wrong," he assured her. By then they had reached his car. He leaned down to kiss her briefly, and then opened the car door for her. Still wondering, Serena climbed in.

* * *

Serena never got to Crown. She didn't get home until late, and immediately called all four of her best friends to meet her the next day. She didn't sleep at all, either. 

That morning, all four were waiting at the Hikawa shrine, one of their usual meeting places, just next to Raye's house, and none of them could wait for her to get there. They didn't have to wait long. Two minutes earlier than the scheduled time--which never happened for Serena--she came barreling up the long stairs to the shrine, shouting and waving. The scouts stood from their seats on the porch of the shrine and waited for her to get to them.

All of them were grinning.

"So what's this big news, Serena?" Raye asked, hands on hips, as she stopped in front of them, literally bouncing with excitement.

Serena couldn't contain herself any longer. She whipped her left hand forward and waved it in front of them.

"Darien proposed!" she squealed. "We're getting married!" She looked at them, but they weren't squealing with her. What was going on here? She waved the ring on her finger a little more. Maybe they were just stunned. "Hellooooo…married! I'm getting married, guys!"

And that was when they all burst into laughter.

Serena froze, mortified. "What?! Why are you laughing! Guys!!"

"We…already…knew, Serena!" Mina gasped.

She stared at them. "What?"

Amy was the first to recover herself and, still smiling widely, she explained. "He told us that he was going to do it after graduation, Serena. He needed advice on how to do it."

"Men," Raye snorted in good humor.

Lita laughed. "I knew you two would get married someday, what with the whole knowing about the future and all, but I never though you'd get married so _soon_."

Serena shook it off, and her hand went to her hips. "Tell me about it. But I'm happy! After all, we're following our destiny, and I can't wait to get married!"

Mina nudged her. "I wouldn't be _too_ hasty if I were you. If you tie the knot too soon, Rini could be back in our lives by this time next year," she whispered mischievously.

Serena groaned. "Mina, don't start! Besides, even when she is born, she'll be a baby, not the older kid we know, and she won't remember us because she won't have gone back in time yet. Besides, we know when she was born. It wasn't until after the beginning of the kingdom after Neo-Queen Serenity--err, me, I guess…--saved the Earth." With that, she sighed heavily.

"You still miss Rini, don't you?" Amy asked sympathetically.

"Yeah--both me _and_ Darien," she nodded.

"After all, she is our daughter--or will be--or--oh, that still confuses me. But we haven't seen her since she went back to the future almost three years ago."

Lita put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Hey, we all miss her too, and you know she might come back for a visit sometime."

"I sure hope so," Serena agreed. The she looked up at the sound of footsteps on the stone stairs, and saw Darien reached the top. She grinned and ran to meet him again, and this time he leaned to kiss her immediately before leading her back to their friends.

"Darien, you old goat, why didn't you tell me that they knew?"

"I thought it would be funny to watch this," he answered. "And it was."

She crossed her arms. "Oh, wonderful. You can be so evil sometimes, you know that?"

"I sure do," he answered, his eyes twinkling. "I'm not completely evil though. I will tell you in advance that we're all going out to dinner tomorrow night on me, for an engagement party, and the rest of the scouts will be there, too. I already called them."

"Ammara, Michelle, Trista, and Hotaru? Oh! This is going to be great! Thank you so much Darien! Gosh, we haven't seen them in a while…"

Raye shrugged. "There's been no need for them to hang around--no real threats. A false alarm or a minor disturbance or disaster or stray monster here and there, but nothing that just the Inner Senshi and Sailor Moon couldn't fix…" She trailed off as her grandfather came around the corner, humming to himself and sweeping the pavement, performing him duties as caretaker of the shrine.

Serena smiled. "True. Oh, I'll be so glad to see them!"

"I thought you might like that," Darien smiled. "Besides, I didn't think _they _would want to miss this. And of course they'll be back for the wedding." He leaned down closer to her ear. "They wouldn't want to miss the wedding of their future queen," he whispered, and kissed her cheek.

Serena shivered and smiled up at him, though perhaps a little uncertainly. Could she really be a good queen for Earth? And only just under four years from now? At 22? And before that, was she ready to save the Earth from its frozen state? Would her power be sufficient?

But there was no reason to worry about that now.

Still…it was something she couldn't help but think about often.

The sound of screaming from the street below the shrine snapped her out of her reverie. What now? She turned away from Darien and toward the sound of the trouble. Raye was staring toward the steps.

"Guys…I'm getting bad vibes from that direction…"

"Not an enemy!" Amy gasped.

"Impossible!" Lita snapped.

Mina held out her hands. "Whoa, guys, let's not jump to conclusions--" She was cut off when a car flew over the rise and crashed into the trees at the edge of the clearing the shrine sat it on top of the hill.

All six of them jumped back, the girls shrieking, and Darien's eyes widening.

"What the--?!"

"Well whatever it is certainly doesn't have normal human strength!" Serena yelped.

Darien swallowed. "Hopefully it's only one of those minor disturbances or stray monsters."

Raye glanced around. "Well, I saw grandpa go back toward the house, so let's get this bad guy over and done with so we can get back to celebrating." She whipped her transformation stick out of her pocket. "If whatever this is wants to pick a fight, he's gonna get it." The others nodded and pulled out their sticks. Serena nodded.

"Right."

Raye grinned and threw her arm into the arm. "MARS CRYSTAL POWER!"

The other chimed in.

"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER!"

"MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER!"

"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER!"

Serena raised her broach into the air last. "MOON ETERNAL MAKE-UP!"

Seconds later, the flashing transformations lights disappeared, and beside Darien stood Eternal sailor Moon and Super sailors Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury. Darien exchanged glances with Sailor Moon.

"I'll meet you down there," he told her. She nodded, and he hurried off into the shadows of the trees, where she knew he would transform, and then jump in when he was needed during the fight.

Serena looked around at her friends and sighed. It had been months since they had needed to transform at all. It brought back so many memories.

"Come on, guys. Lets go."

And the Inner Senshi ran for the battle.

* * *

And far above them, far away from the scene, the real enemy laughed. 


End file.
